Art comes in many forms, and an artist can come in varying levels in terms of how important an artist think his/her own work is as a whole. Some like to think their work is the only work that there is with none other with meaning or importance, and then others just do it because they can. Downfall of Gaia is in my head the latter of the two, and like many before them they take art to a dark, unforgiving world with their upcoming album, “Atrophy”.

Black metal is by no means unexplored territory for anyone who wants to bring depth and meaning to the genre outside of the occult, and Downfall of Gaia is no exception to it, but it all comes to a culmination with “Atrophy”. A record about the absurdity of life and human existence – an album about the constant dialog between life and death. Pretty deep and contextual, but as with most if not all albums, it’s the music that truly brings the concept to life. The dark atmosphere and attitude that’s brought to the table with “Atrophy” is simply stunning, and while it sounds a lot like the basic formula for atmospheric black metal bands out there, Downfall of Gaia manage to implement subtle changes and stylistic decisions unique to them in order to make the record something a little different. The six tracks are spread out over a satisfying 40+ minutes that if you’re any sort of fan of metal that truly cuts deeper than any blade along with vocals that sound like they’re calling to you from an alternate plane of existence, Downfall of Gaia has got just the thing for you. In its essence, “Atrophy” is a little wonder of modern post-black metal that is sure to find me crawling back to it, for it is a treat that just keeps on giving with its sick riffs and brilliantly pulled off the atmosphere that actually fucking works. Not many bands can do that many times over and still say that they’re still good at it, but it’s now easy to put Downfall of Gaia among bands of such.

An album that is equal parts devilishly dark and wondrously beautiful at the same time, “Atrophy” truly hits it out of the park again and again with each tracks being more delicious than the last. Downfall of Gaia have shown that once again they aren’t pushovers with their deep and brutal style, but instead a rising act that isn’t show signs of slowly down any time soon.

“Atrophy” releases on November 11th!

PRE-ORDER “Atrophy” via iTunes here.

LISTEN to the track “Woe” off “Atrophy” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Downfall of Gaia on Facebook here.